IV 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 354 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the safety 

and security of Jewish communities in Europe. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2015 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. DEUTCH, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. 

ENGEL, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. ISRAEL, and Mr. ROSKAM) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the safety and security of Jewish communities in 

Europe. 

Whereas anti-Semitic rhetoric and acts, including violent attacks on people and places of faith, have increased in frequency, variety, and severity in many countries in Europe; 

Whereas the French Service de Protection de la Communaute ́

Juive (Jewish Community Security Service) reported an 

increase in anti-Semitic acts in France between 2013 to 

2014 (from 423 acts to 851), including an increase in 

violent ones (from 105 acts to 241); the Community Security Trust reported an increase in anti-Semitic acts in 

the United Kingdom between 2013 to 2014 (from 535 


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•HRES 354 IH 

acts to 1,168), including an increase in violent ones (from 

69 to 81); and the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry reported an increase in antiSemitic acts between 2013 and 2014 in Germany (from 

788 acts to 1076, including 36 violent acts to 76), Belgium (from 64 acts to 109, including 11 violent acts to 

30), Austria (from 137 acts to 255, including 4 violent 

acts to 9), and Italy (from 45 to 90, including 12 violent 

acts to 23); 

Whereas the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported, in its 

latest available statistics, 870 incidents in 2012 with 

anti-Jewish bias motivation, including 13 violent incidents, and 625 incidents in 2013 with anti-Jewish bias 

motivation, including four violent incidents; 

Whereas anti-Semitic attacks have been increasingly directed 

at places of ordinary daily life and places of worship, including— 

(1) the violent extremist who pledged his loyalty to 

the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and attacked a kosher supermarket in Paris, France, January 

9, 2015, murdering four Jewish patrons; and 

(2) the violent extremist who pledged his loyalty to 

ISIS and attacked the Great Synagogue in Copenhagen, 

Denmark, during a bat mitzvah celebration, February 15, 

2015, murdering a member of the Jewish community on 

security duty, and wounding two members of the Danish 

Police Service; 

Whereas anti-Semitic attacks are threats to the fundamental 

freedoms, rights, security, and diversity of all citizens, societies, and countries in which they occur; 

Whereas governments have primary responsibility for the security and safety of all of their citizens and therefore priVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jul 10, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR354.IH HR354

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mary responsibility for monitoring, preventing, and responding to anti-Semitic violence; 

Whereas Jewish community groups that focus on strengthening safety awareness, crisis management, and preparedness are essential to keeping members of the Jewish 

community safe, and complement efforts of government 

and inter-governmental entities; 

Whereas keeping members of Jewish communities safe requires government agencies, intergovernmental institutions and agencies, and law enforcement associations, formally recognizing and partnering with Jewish community 

groups that focus on safety awareness and crisis management and preparedness; 

Whereas in the United States, United Kingdom, and France, 

there are examples of formal recognition, partnership, 

training, and information-sharing between government 

entities and Jewish community security groups that have 

strengthened these countries and contributed to the safety and security of Jewish communities; 

Whereas Jewish community groups, consortia, and initiatives, 

have formed and are forming to focus on safety awareness, crisis management, and preparedness, and partner 

with law enforcement entities and thought leaders; 

Whereas information-sharing and action-focused campaigns, 

including the national ‘‘If You See Something, Say Something’’ campaign of the Department of Homeland Security, which rely on members of the public reporting suspicious activity to law enforcement personnel, are critical 

to preventing violent attacks on individuals and communities; 


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Whereas relevant information, research, and analysis is vital 

to strengthening the preparedness, prevention, mitigation, 

and response of Jewish communities and law enforcement 

agencies; 

Whereas broader efforts to counter violent extremism, and efforts to counter anti-Semitism, should be integrated with 

each other as appropriate and share best practices; 

Whereas in the Berlin Declaration of April 29, 2004, participating States of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) condemned anti-Semitism 

and committed themselves to specific actions to combat 

it, including to combat hate crimes and to collect and 

maintain reliable information and statistics about antiSemitic crimes; 

Whereas, on December 6, 2013, the Ministerial Council of 

the OSCE, which is composed of the Foreign Ministers 

of participating States, adopted Decision number 3/13 

entitled ‘‘Freedom of Thought, Conscience, Religion, or 

Belief’’, emphasizing ‘‘the link between security and full 

respect for the freedom of thought’’, and committing 

member governments to adopt ‘‘policies to promote respect and protection for places of worship and religious 

sites, religious monuments, cemeteries and shrines 

against vandalism and destruction’’, among other specific 

actions; 

Whereas, on December 5, 2014, the Ministerial Council of 

the OSCE adopted Declaration number 8, the Basel Declaration, on ‘‘Enhancing Efforts to Combat Anti-Semitism’’, in which members of the Council stated, ‘‘We express our concern at the disconcerting number of anti-Semitic incidents that continue to take place in the OSCE 

area and remain a challenge to stability and security’’ 


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and ‘‘We stress the importance of States collaborating 

with civil society through effective partnerships and 

strengthened dialogue and co-operation on combating 

anti-Semitism’’; and 

Whereas in 2004, Congress passed the Global Anti-Semitism 

Review Act, which established an Office to Monitor and 

Combat Anti-Semitism, headed by a Special Envoy to 

Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) urges the United States Government, in3 cluding the Secretary of State, the Secretary of 

4 Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the 

5 Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to 

6 work closely with European governments and their 

7 law enforcement agencies, the Organization for Se8 curity and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Euro9 pean Union, Europol, and Interpol, encouraging and 

10 enabling them to— 

11 (A) formally recognize, partner with, and 

12 train Jewish community groups focused on 

13 strengthening preparedness, mitigation, and re14 sponse related to anti-Semitic attacks; 

15 (B) support initiatives to research, analyze, 

16 and strengthen the preparedness, mitigation, 

17 and response of Jewish community groups and 


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1 law enforcement agencies to anti-Semitic at2 tacks; 

3 (C) share essential, relevant information 

4 with, and have clear, open channels to receive 

5 and respond to information from, Jewish com6 munity groups focused on strengthening pre7 paredness, mitigation, and response related to 

8 anti-Semitic attacks; 

9 (D) consider formal partnerships in the 

10 United States, United Kingdom, and France, 

11 between government entities and Jewish com12 munity security groups as examples of govern13 ment recognition of partnership, training, and 

14 information-sharing, with Jewish community se15 curity groups; 

16 (E) support assessments of the— 

17 (i) general environment of hate 

18 crimes, the broader context for under19 standing the environment for anti-Semitic 

20 attacks; 

21 (ii) anti-Semitism environment that 

22 includes gathering and analyzing data on 

23 crimes committed, response from law en24 forcement, types of attacks or incidents 

25 that are most prevalent, types of targets 


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1 that are most at-risk, and that draw infor2 mation from sources that include Jewish 

3 groups, law enforcement agencies, and 

4 independent human rights nongovern5 mental organizations (NGOs), and other 

6 civil society groups and leaders; 

7 (iii) capabilities, resources, and rela8 tionships of Jewish community groups with 

9 local law enforcement agencies; 

10 (iv) preparedness, including emer11 gency response plans and extent to which 

12 decisionmaking is based on the best avail13 able information, analysis, and practices, 

14 of Jewish community groups that focus on 

15 the safety of members of the Jewish com16 munity; 

17 (v) response of local law enforcement 

18 systems to anti-Semitic incidents, including 

19 hate-crime reporting, how law enforcement 

20 agencies usually receive reports of anti-Se21 mitic crimes, the initial course of action 

22 when a report is filed, the extent to which 

23 anti-Semitic crimes are prioritized and 

24 prosecuted, the processes of investigating 

25 and gaining information about the crime, 


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1 and ways in which law enforcement agen2 cies work with prosecutors; and 

3 (vi) communication and cooperation 

4 between European governments, intergov5 ernmental, and interorganizational entities 

6 on combating anti-Semitism, especially 

7 anti-Semitic violence; 

8 (F) make necessary adjustments to their 

9 strategies and efforts to combat anti-Semitism, 

10 particularly violent attacks on Jewish commu11 nities, based on these assessments; 

12 (G) help Jewish communities develop com13 mon, baseline safety standards, especially for 

14 community service organizations that focus on 

15 preparedness, mitigation, and response, includ16 ing for training, controlling access to physical 

17 facilities, physical security measures, crisis com18 munications, emergency exercises and simula19 tions, mapping access to facilities, and sharing 

20 of information with law enforcement agencies 

21 and other partners; 

22 (H) develop and implement a standardized 

23 pan-European information-sharing, communica24 tion, and alerting system between governments, 

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1 munities, that functions day-round and year2 round and includes training for personnel im3 plementing such a system; 

4 (I) develop and implement safety-aware5 ness and suspicious activity reporting cam6 paigns; 

7 (J) integrate, as appropriate, efforts to 

8 combat violent extremism and efforts to combat 

9 anti-Semitism with each other and share best 

10 practices related to both; 

11 (K) ensure law enforcement personnel are 

12 effectively trained to monitor, prevent, and re13 spond to anti-Semitic violence, and partner with 

14 Jewish communities; 

15 (L) reaffirm and work for the implementa16 tion of the OSCE declarations, decisions, and 

17 other commitments, particularly those focusing 

18 on anti-Semitism; 

19 (M) ensure senior officials, with commen20 surate authority and resources, have been ap21 pointed or designated to combat anti-Semitism 

22 and collaborate with governmental and inter23 governmental agencies, law enforcement agen24 cies, Jewish community groups, and other civil 

25 society groups; and 


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1 (N) work closely with associations of law 

2 enforcement professionals, and other relevant 

3 professional entities, to combat anti-Semitism 

4 and particularly to actualize the goals of this 

5 resolution; 

6 (2) reaffirms its support for the mandate of the 

7 United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat 

8 Anti-Semitism as part of the broader policy priority 

9 of fostering international religious freedom; 

10 (3) urges the Secretary of State to continue ro11 bust United States reporting on anti-Semitism by 

12 the Department of State and the Special Envoy to 

13 Combat and Monitor Anti-Semitism; and 

14 (4) calls on the President to report to Congress, 

15 not later than one year after this resolution is 

16 passed, on the United States Government’s imple17 mentation of this resolution. 

Æ 


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